Reading is our superpower

Constable Brad shared why reading has been so important to him as a police officer. To read the laws and keep up with them online. People write to the police, with statements needing help. He needs to be able to read them to see how he could help them. When Brad was at school, his mum bought him a subscription to National Geographic magazine because he was really into finding out about the outdoors. Now his kids read them. His favourite book is The Places You'll Go by Dr Seuss. 

Brodie Kane, from the hits radio, She went to Waikiki Primary School then Rangiora High School.  She went to university to learn to be a journalist. One of the reasons she liked reading when she was little was that her mum or dad would read her a story before she went to bed. She wanted to be good at writing, so she read to improve her writing. Her favourite book is The Very Hungry Caterpillar & Where the Wild Things Are.

Stella from What Now remembers Duffy books from when she was at school. (She even knew all the words to the song!) 

Stella from What Now

Stella liked books about mermaids. As she got older, she looked for books about Maoritanga. (How Maori view the world) Her message was to read a book about something you like. She talked about how she copes with doing things for the very first time. If she got to gunge anyone, who would she want to gunge? Mr Wilkinson!

Mr VanOpzeeland from Opzeeland Transport spoke about how you need to read to get you truck and car licences. He spoke about why reading is important in running a transport business.  

Our theme is superheroes. Our superpower is reading! We are going to have loads of fun with reading this year... dress-up days, pyjama reading days... Chris from Scholastic gave us a pack of books per class!  

Duffy

We were lucky to have Stella Schmid visit for our Duffy assembly today. At the age of 10 she couldn't read. She didn't go to school 80% of the time because she lived with her grandparents. When they passed away, her family realised she couldn't read. She didn't have the opportunities to read when she was you get, so she reads at every opportunity now. 

She now owns 3 businesses and travels New Zealand sharing her passion for reading and the environment.

Her message to us today was about how important we are. 

"Someone in this room has the potential to be the prime minister one day."
"Someone in this room has the potential to be the future minister of conservation."

She talked about the kereru and how it is the only bird large enough to eat some of the seeds for our big trees. Once it's extinct, the trees will be too!

The huia is already gone.

By the time you wake up in the morning, 170 species will die.

There are 3 species of rat in New Zealand. 

- One came with Maori and was a major food source.

- Ship rat originally came from India. It kills 26m native birds and insects every year. It has the potential to have 10 babies every 2 months. 

-Norwegian rat can swim. It eats the birds and insects I. The canopy of the trees.

Possums come from Australia. It was brought here for its coat. There are more things that have been brought into our country, than the things that belong here. 

Stoats come from Europe. They were brought here to fix the rabbit population. The rabbits were brought here by gold planners to eat. They over bred and ate too much grass then dig up farmland. The farmers demanded stoats were brought. On average 40 kiwis are killed by stoats each day. It's cousin the weasel is the same, but smaller. The ferret is from the same family. He was brought here for its mink coat. They were farmed. When it was decided that they weren't welcome here, they weren't sent back or destroyed... 4700 were released back into the forest.

The Kauri has been here for 250m years. We used to be covered in them, yet 1% is left.  

Native-made its way here on its own. 

Endemic - can only be found in one place in the world. 80% of our native population is endemic.

Introduced - brought here by humans.

Why are we important? Because we can help. 

Fanimals in da house!

We were lucky enough to have Jess and Molson visit from Fanimals.

Apparently, Molson is quite cheeky and is probably the naughtiest! 

Where do they live?

There is an animal carer, who trains the animals. Many of them live in her house when they are not working. Tina & Tama the geckos, as well as the Fish,  live in the studios. The other animals get brought in for filming and then go home again. Molson lives with... our another family.

A German Shepard can jump really high! That's why they make great police dogs.

There are a couple of species of goldfish that x can survive in both freshwater and saltwater, but you wouldn't find them in a pet store. 

The fluffiest animal is a ChouChou. It is an Asian breed of dog. It is like a Pom Pom. It has a black tongue. It's going to be on the show next Tuesday! 

Working With Miss Rowland

Over the past six weeks, we have had our student teacher, Miss Rowland, in our class with us. 

Friday was her last day with us and she was sad to leave us. But we each made an origami person for her to remember us. 

We have loved having Miss Rowland as part of Manawaroa this term! 

Happy birthday Mr Wilkinson

We welcomed Mr Wilkinson into the hub today, to present him with cards and a book about why we think he's the greatest!!!

Celebrating Ara Tu Whakata

It's been an early start here at Ara Tu Whakata today! Our new space has been blessed by our local runanga. 

Our hangi Fire is burning and ready to be laid!

Welcome Mr Gold

We are super lucky to have Mr Gold with us for the next 7 weeks! 

This morning for fitness we spelt out his name, with our bodies. 

Some of us collaborated to come up with the letter.